Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 43

FEBRUARY, 1913.] THE PEREGRINATIONS OF INDIAN BUDDHISTS
Both these accounts differ only in one essential point. For while in the Mahdvagga, the two merchants came from Ukkalâ overland, the Shwe Dagon inscription states that this journey was made by ship. From this it appears that the compiler of the Mahavagga nuderstood Ukkalâ to be Orissa, which is a province of India, from where one could journey overland to the Râjâyatana tree. Dhammaceti, on the other hand, the author of the inscription on the Shwe Dagon, understood by Ukkalâ the territory at the foot of the Shwe Dagon Hill stretching up to the Irâvadi, where a number of colonists from further India must have settled at an early date. Hence he makes the two merchants voyage in a ship.
When we look into the later Buddhist Literature we find the history of Tapussa and Bhallika also in the commentary of Buddhaghosha to the Vinayz and to the Anguttaranikaya, which is a production of the 5th Christian century. There also the city from where they came and where they erected the pagoda on their return is called Asitanjananagara, just as in the inscription on the Shwe Dagon. Accordingly, there seems to be no doubt that Buddhaghosha, too, the most celebrated of the later Buddhist theologians, had in his mind Burma and not Orissa, and that the Shwe Dagon Pagoda was actually built on the spot, where the two merchants buried the hair relics presented to them by Gotama. The name Dagon can be traced to an old Tikumbha "the three alms bowls", and with this is linked the legend that Gotama and his two favourite disciples, Sariputta and Moggallâna had buried their alms bowls at that place. The name came into use first in the 16th century, while before that time the pagoda was called Singuttaracheti. Buddhaghosha's testimony is, therefore, of special value, in as much as he composed the greater number of his Commentaries in Burma, after he had spent some time in Ceylon with a view to study the sacred scriptures at the latter place. The Burmese historians even assert that he was born in their country. But this is contradicted by the evidence of the Mahavansa, which alleges his birth place to be in the vicinity of the holy Bodhi Tree, and, therefore, is not to be accepted as a historical fact. The identity of Ukkalâ and Burma, as asserted by Buddhaghosha, is no doubt, (a3 Kern indicates,) in conflict with the statement of the Lalita-Vistara, which places the home of the two merchants in a country to the north of the Deccan, and it likewise is not in accord with the information of the Chinese Pilgrim Hiuan-Thsang, who makes the merchants come from Baktria. But the Lalita-Vistara has proved itself in many cases to be an unreliable source and the expression "northern country" is so vague that it might indicate almost any country. As regards Hiuan-Thsang he is a great authority for Northern Buddhism; but, he has little knowledge of Southern Buddhism, and when his evidence is in conflict with that of Buddhaghosha, we must explicitly give precedence to the latter.
We assume, therefore, that the first two lay disciples of Gotama originally came from Burma ; but that is not the same thing as to say that Buddhism had already been introduced into Burma by that time. That event took place after the Council of Pataliputra, which was held under the patronage of king Aśoka. At this Council, at the suggestion of Tissa Moggaliputts, it was resolved to send out missionaries to various directions with a view to proselytise the surrounding countries to Buddhism. Both the children of king Asoka, Mahinda and Sanghamittâ, went over to Ceylon; to Burma went the apostles Sona and Uttara. These two arrived there after a long journey, because the country was at that time in the possession of a sea monster who was working havoc there. The apostles succeeded in destroying the monster and naturally gained unexpected success in their mission of proselytisation. Two-thousand-five-hundred men and one-thousand-fivehundred women forthwith accepted monkhood, and the kings of the country thence-forward bore the name of Sonuttara.
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The port where Sona and Uttara landed in Burma was called Golanagara or Golamattikânagara, and lay some twenty miles north-west of the capital, Thaton. The late Doctor